Torex creates low packaging for slimline smart cards
The number of smartcards has increased dramatically, reports Torex, and fields of use are becoming increasingly diverse, including official authentication documents (licenses, passports, ID cards), access control (employee ID cards, student ID cards, secure area access), medical cards (health insurance cards, consultation tickets), payment cards (credit, debit, bank cards), and information security (network transactions, data access control).
The ISO/IEC 7810 international standard specifies the dimensions and thickness of smart cards (54.98 x 85.60 x 0.760mm). Models with a display or finger print authentication function have recently appeared, and these advances are expected to create a new demand for power ICs such as voltage regulators and battery charger ICs.
Due to the thickness specification (0.76mm) for smart cards, there is a growing need for power ICs and external devices that have been miniaturised to a height no more than 0.4mm and are sufficiently strong to withstand bending and twisting of the smart card. Torex has developed a moulded-type, low profile package with more strength to withstand bending and twisting than the chip scale package (CSP), and has added this package its product offering of DC/DC converters, charge pump ICs, Lithium ion charger ICs, series regulators, line switch ICs, and voltage detectors.
The package is claimed to be the thinnest class in the industry and is used for the
USPQ-4B05（1.0 x 1.0 x h0.33mm) model (XC6129), the USP-6B06（1.5 x 1.8 x h0.33mm XC6215 Series, the XC8102 load switches, the USP-6B07（1.8 x 2.0 x h0.33mm) battery charge ICs, the XC6805 Series, the USP-8B05（2.4 x 2.0 x h0.33mm) step-up charge pump, the XC9801 and XC9802 series and the LGA-8B01（1.4 x 1.2 x h0.3mm step-down DC/DC converters, XC9259 Series.
Torex Semiconductor provides CMOS power management ICs targeted toward battery powered and energy efficient applications. Torex specialises in CMOS analogue technology, with LDO voltage regulators, voltage detectors and DC/DC converters in the company portfolio.
